Bio-signal Acquisition Device for Wearable Internet-of-Things

Physical indicators are directly related with health and fitness of human body and translate into bio-parameters which can be acquired to understand the physiological condition of human body. By employing real-time monitoring system for acquiring and analyzing bio-signals through measurements such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyography (EMG), it is possible to extract information for better healthcare in terms of observation, analysis, diagnosis and treatment. However, at present, the devices responsible for collecting data on physiological parameters are often of limited-use in several ways. In this thesis, a brief overview is provided on common bio-signals, their specification and acquisition techniques. A constructive but critical observation at similar design approaches towards bio-signal acquisition devices is also carried out. Accordingly, a design of a portable multi-purpose acquisition device is presented and ways to further improve the design is discussed. The design focuses on overcoming common challenges such as accurate signal acquisition, high data transmission, energy-efficiency and portability. When used as part of Internet-of-Things (IoT), this design can improve quality of healthcare by providing real-time monitoring, abnormality detection and advanced services such as emergency push notification while not interfering with the daily life activities of a patient. Finally, a portable prototype of the proposed design has been implemented and evaluated. The developed hardware is capable of acquiring and reliably streaming high-resolution data in both wired and wireless manner in real-time while keeping the overall energy consumption low. The signal acquisition performance of the device has been evaluated for both ECG and EMG at 8 channels, 24 bit resolution/channel and 500 samples/s configuration. The result stands well beside a similar, commercially available medical device in terms of reliable acquisition. In addition, the energy consumption is measured with a professional tool and it is found that the device can continuously work at maximum configurable parameter setup for up to 9.5 hours with a 3.7 V 1000 mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery. Additionally, the device has been used in an IoT-based application scenario as an example of possible integration